Steve Mcqueen Quick Links

The '12 Years A Slave' director will receive the accolade at the London Film Festival in October.

Steve McQueen is to become the youngest director to receive the British Film Institute's highest honour, the BFI Fellowship. The 46-year-old is already the only person to have won both the best picture Oscar and the Turner Prize and says he is “honoured” to receive the accolade from the BFI.

Steve McQueen is to be honoured with the BFI Fellowship

McQueen will accept his fellowship at the the London Film Festival on October 14th, less than a week after his 47th birthday. Directors who have previously been honoured include, David Lean, Ken Loach, Danny Boyle and Tim Burton.

'12 Years a Slave' director Steve McQueen reportedly fell out with screenwriter John Ridley.

After 12 Years a Slave's Oscars success on Sunday, the movie could well emerge as not only one of the films of the year but of the decade thanks to its all-star team of cast and crew. Steve McQueen's slavery drama was one of the most talked-about films of the pre-Oscars season and capitalised on this attention with a triumphant Best Picture win on Sunday.

It's practically a sure fact that the film will long be long cherished as a vital visual textbook into one of American history's darkest chapters, but only time will tell whether the film is remembered for a particularly bitter feud at the film production's highest level. The British director is said to have fallen out with screenwriter John Ridley, the writer who adapted Solomon Northup's memoir for screen.

The New York Times has chosen to amend a detail from an article written 161 years ago about the memoir of Solomon Northup, the free African-American man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Steve McQueen received an Academy Award on Sunday for his harrowing adaptation of Northup's tale, which caused articles related to the story to be dug up.

An Article Written About The Original '12 Years A Slave' Memoir Has Been Amended 161 Years Later.

An article written on January 20th 1853 was discovered by author Rebecca Skloot, who discovered the mistake and publicised it via Twitter. The problem was that the 19th century article had Northup's name spelt in two different ways: Northrop and Northrup, neither of which were accurate.

'12 Years a Slave' is now available on DVD, but those who are yet to see the Oscar-winning movie might want to head to the cinemas.

Despite the fact that 12 Years a Slave is released on DVD on Tuesday (March 4, 2014), exhibiters are clamoring to book the movie back into theaters following its Best Picture win at the Oscars on Sunday. As of Monday, the Fox-Searchlight distributed movie had secured 1,000 further cinema locations and could earn $3-4 million this weekend - just under a quarter of its entire budget.

12 Years' Oscar victories also included best supporting actress for Lupita Nyong'o and adapted screenplay for John Ridley. The movie is also being included in schools syllabus' to help students to understand the history of slavery.

Lupita Nyong'o must be feeling on top of the world right now: she has become the talk of the town all awards season with a conveyor belt of supporting actress trophies headed for her shelf, topped off with Sunday's crowning glory, an Oscar. Despite few at the Academy Awards being able to pronounce the Mexican-Kenyan actress' name*, Lupita has been praised for her surefooted sense of red carpet style, her permanently dazzling smile and that Hollywood gold dust trait, genuine niceness.

Lupita Nyong'o Has Emerged As One Of The Most Exciting New Talents Of The Year.

Unlike many actors who triumph at the Oscars, Lupita hasn't been building to this moment of glory throughout a long career. In fact, she was cast as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave before she'd even graduated from Yale after she was selected as one of the School of Drama's outstanding students. She had a solid base of theatre training from her university and a Kenyan AIDS prevention television series under her belt but that was about it; she was about to get thrown headfirst into Hollywood.

A Best Picture Oscar definitely brings a lot of cache to a film. Now that 12 Years a Slave has won the big one, Fox Searchlight is planning a major expansion in US theaters. The unexpected move comes after the film saw an unexpected spike in profits over Oscar weekend. On its 20th weekend, the film grossed $975,931 from 411 theaters - up 86 percent from the previous weekend and pushing its domestic total to a strong $50.3 million, THR reports.

McQueen's film is seeing additional commercial success after its awards season run.

The new expansion will include more than 1,000 theaters across the US. Typically, a movie would not see an expansion once its out on DVD, since theater owners don’t make significant profits of them. However, in the case of 12 Years a Slave, all concerned parties are willing to make an exception. The expansion is expected to contribute to a sizeable profit for both Fox and the additional 1,000 theaters.

Captain Phillips, Gravity, Iron Man 3, Karama Has No Walls, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Philomena, Prisoners, Room on the Broom, The Act of Killing; The Invisible Woman, The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, and The Voorman Problem. These films all have a British spine in common, and will be celebrated at tomorrow night’s Oscars ceremony.

But the revelry won’t begin on the red carpet; last night saw an all-out anglo-centric bash in dedication to the British influence on this year’s Academy Awards. The Great British Film event was held at the home of the British Consul General Chris O'Connor, who said: "The UK consistently features as the country with the most nominations outside of the US, and this year is no exception, with our world-class nominees in everything from acting and directing to music, animation and visual effects."

Sunday's Academy Awards look like they may be the least predictable in years, although we know Lupita Nyong'o will wear the best frock. This week's new trailers offer a glimpse of Godzilla, a snappy return for Veronica Mars, and Michael Cera terrifying Juno Temple in Chile...

We focus on the British awards season this week with BRITs and BAFTAs celebrations as well as the arrival of Jimmy Fallon on 'The Tonight Show' and a most thrilling trailer drop for a certain superhero movie...

Miley Cyrus Bangerz Tour Controversy: Miley Cyrus has predictably upped the ante on her controversial media storm by making sure all eyes are on her during her currently touring Bangerz show. The concerts have been packed with the usual raunchy and cringe-worthy stunts, including faking a "Monica Lewinski," getting freaky on the bonnet of a car, snogging Katy Perry and doing some pretty unsightly things to a hot dog. Her pre-teen fans are obviously revelling in it but their outraged accompanying parents have called for the tour to be axed. Check out the whole debate.

BRIT Awards Stuffed With Surprises: The biggest awards evening on the UK music industry calendar - the BRIT Awards - was held on Wednesday and saw a typically spectacular showcase of pop talent, rising up to meet the benchmark set by the Grammys. In a hurry? We've picked our ten best moments. He may not have even attended but David Bowie became the most talked-about star of the evening when he won the prize for Best British Male and sent Kate Moss to read his acceptance speech.

Despite its prestige, the Academy has its problems. Diversity has long been chief among them.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the current President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the first POC and the third woman ever to hold the office, knows from experience how hard it is to introduce diversity in the film industry. On the eve of an Oscars ceremony that features the third ever black nominee for Best Director, Boone Isaacs talked to Reuters about diversity. Her biggest message – it’s an ongoing effort and there are no easy fixes.

As president of the Academy, Boone Isaacs has a front row seat to a major cultural shift.

"I believe very strongly that the entertainment and motion picture business is going to be more open and aware of different voices," Boone Isaacs told Reuters in an interview at the academy's headquarters.

The winners were somewhat predictable, but it was all about the presenters and winners' speeches.

As the British equivalent to the Oscars, last night’s BAFTAs were obviously a glamorous affair. In between bouts of Stephen Fry’s self deprecating humor (“[Oprah’s] performance in The Butler was so moving, I almost gave mine the afternoon off.”) and jabs at all of his colleagues (Fry introduced the flawless Emma Thompson as “In the film world, a goddess. In real life, a ghastly piece of sickly shrieking awful.”) there were also some awards given out.

Stephen Fry always makes for an entertaining awards show.

The big winners of the night were somewhat surprising. Predictions pegged Gravity and 12 Years A Slave – the two award show favorites so far – for the majority of BAFTAs as well. Instead, the Steve McQueen directed 12 Years only took two awards out of 8 nods total. Granted, they were the big ones - best film and leading actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) – but that was it.

2014 BAFTA's: '12 Years A Slave' took home two of the biggest awards of the night but it was 'Gravity' that dominated, winning 6 of the 11 honors it was nominated for.

The movie award season is nearly at its peak and the latest stop was the coveted British Academy Film Awards which took place this Sunday (Feb 16th) in London, England.

This year has to be one of the most impressive and competitive fields in the film industry as flicks like 'American Hustle,' 'The Wolf of Wall Street,' 'Gravity' and '12 Years a Slave' are all featured in several different categories.

Such is the importance of Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, the usually strict nudity censorships practices in India have lightened somewhat to allow the film to be shown unhindered, according to The Guardian.

The Oscar-nominated has been hailed as a modern classic, and is the favorite to take home the prize of Best Picture. It has attained such a status in part due to its unerring approach to the atrocities of slavery.

Following his modern classic, 12 Years a Slave, which portrays the true story of Soloman Northrup’s (Chiwetel Ejiofor) kidnapping, subsequent slavery and escape, director Steve McQueen has been made a patron of the world's oldest human rights organisation.

12 Years a Slave - starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender - has been hailed as a modern classic

He joins the Anti-Slavery International, a committee set up in 1839 to lobby against slavery and related abuses, in an ambassadorial role.

Audiences are clearly in the mood for more serious movies at the moment. After lighter releases in December (from Frozen to The Hobbit), the box office shifted strongly to much more challenging fare this week as 12 Years a Slave landed atop the UK chart with £2.5m from just 207 screens. The Oscar favourite looks set to stay in cinemas now until the big night on March 2nd. Read our review of Steve McQueen's slavery drama here.

Chiwetel Ejiofor [L] and Michael Fassbender [R] have both scored Oscar nominations for '12 Years a Slave'

Meanwhile, American Hustle remains in second place. And the audience's good will even propelled The Railway Man into 6th place. It's a prestige film starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman, but it hasn't had any awards attention at all. Then this weekend sees the arrival of Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, essentially unopposed for box office cash.

When Academy Awards nominations came out on Wednesday morning, most pundits noticed immediately that they were lacking the usual left-field touch. Last year saw French drama Amour pick up a best picture Oscar nod, along with lead actress Emmanuelle Riva. In 2012, Demian Bichir got a best actor nomination for the little-seen A Better Life. But this year's nominees are almost eerily mainstream.

Bruce Dern [L] Has Picked Up A Nomination for 'Best Actor' at the Oscars

That's not to say there weren't a few surprises. Gravity and 12 Years a Slave were expected to get the most nominations (they got 10 each), with American Hustle, Her and Nebraska. But the unexpected inclusion of Philomena and Dallas Buyers Club pushed out awards-season favourites Inside Llewyn Davis and Fruitvale Station. Read our reviews for 12 Years a Slave, Nebraska, and American Hustle.

The cast and production team have been incredibly busy in the run-up to awards season - none moreso than McQueen himself.

With nine nominations, 12 Years A Slave is the obvious favorite at the Oscars this year. Among those nine nods are the big ones – Best Director and Best Picture. This could make McQueen the first black director to win the Best Director award, prompting the question: why did it take so long? Overdue or not, McQueen is ecstatic about the nominations and optimistic about 12 Years’ (generally great) chances.

12 Years a Slave's chances are looking great at this point.

“I am exhilarated, ecstatic,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “Getting all those nominations, I’m so very happy.”

The red carpet outside the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, welcomed some of Hollywood's biggest stars to the awards show

The Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, California, set the stage for the latest instalment of the awards season program, playing host to some of the biggest names in showbiz and paying tribute to some of the year's biggest films for the 19th annual Critic's Choice Awards.

The latest instalment of the awards show schedule to pass us by offered another indicator of what films will continue to find success over the course of the next few months, with Gravity, American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave dominating proceedings.

'American Hustle' was the night's big winner, with three major wins, but there were surprises elsewhere as even Leonardo DiCaprio won an award!

The 2014 Golden Globes came and went on Sunday, 12 January night as the stars of Hollywood gathered for the first real awards showcase of the year. The event didn't let down, with hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler delivering the laughs throughout the event and with individual stars using their time in the spotlight to grand effect, resulting in a night to remember.

American Hustle was the night's big winner

The two top-contested awards, Best Motion Picture for Drama and for Musical or Comedy, were awarded to the early favourites and the two titles looking most likely to sweep up over the course of awards season: 12 Years A Slave and America Hustle.

As we swing into awards season, the drama heightens: 'Gravity' is top dog, Steve McQueen won't stoop to hecklers and Meryl Streep knows how to make a good speech.

People's Choice Selects Victors: This week saw the annual People's Choice awards handed out and what an evening it was. Hosted by the stellar Two Broke Girls' Beth Behrs and Kat Dennings, the audience were kept laughing whilst a slew of gongs were distributed to the year's finest figures in popular culture. Sandra Bullock emerged as the star of the evening after she won four awards for her roles in Gravity and The Heat, not including the overall film win for the space thriller. Check out all the winners here.

The British director addressed what he claims is a widespread problem in Hollywood.

Director Steve McQueen has spoken candidly about his latest film, 12 Years A Slave, and how it goes drastically against the grain to what audiences, as well as studio chiefs in Hollywood, are used to seeing: a brutally honest depiction of slavery. In a recent interview with the BBC, McQueen discussed Hollywood's tendancy to sugarcoat America's dark past and considers his film a wake-up call to those who still have their heads buried in the ground.

The new film, which is widely considered the front-runner to take home all the major prizes when awards season gets going, tells the real life story of free man Solomon Northup. Northup, played by the outstanding Chiwetel Ejiofor; another front-runner for awards glory, is a middle class free-born musician living in New York in pre-Civil War America. In 1841 he is kidnapped and sold into slavery into the the Antebellum South , where he spends ten years at the mercy of his slave masters in the backwards land.

The Daryl F. Zanuck Award is given to the PGA's favourite film of the year (and usually the film that sweeps up at the Oscars)

The members of The Producer's Guild of America have cast their vote and the list of nominee's for their annual Daryl F. Zanuck Awards - their Best Picture category - have been cast. Formerly known as the Golden Laurel Awards, the PGA's are usually pretty accurate at predicting which films will go on to be nominated in the Best Picture category at the Oscars, and their winners rarely differ too.

American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Saving Mr. Banks, 12 Years a Slave, and The Wolf of Wall Street make up the full list of nominees up for awards this year, so don't be surprised to see these films still being discussed vigorously until the beginning of March.

Steve McQueen -
**File Photo
* AMERICAN HUSTLE AND 12 YEARS A SLAVE LEAD 2014 GOLDEN GLOBES NOMINATIONS
AMERICAN HUSTLE and 12 YEARS A SLAVE are going head-to-head at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards after landing six nominations each.
The dramatic comedy will go up against Her, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska and Wolf of Wall Street for Best Motion Picture, Musical Or Comedy.
Its stars Christian Bale and Amy Adams scored a mention for Best Performance In A Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical), while Jennifer Lawrence picked up a nod for her supporting role and David O. Russell landed a nomination for Best Director.
The film also picked up a Best Screenplay - Motion Picture nod.
Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave also landed six nominations including Best Motion Picture, Drama, Best Performance Actor, Drama for Chiwetel Ejiofor, Best Supporting Actress for Lupita Nyong'o, Best Supporting Actor, Drama for Michael Fassbender, Best Director - Motion Picture for Steve McQueen and Best Screenplay - Motion Picture.
In the TV categories, some of the small screen's biggest names are going head-to-head for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama. Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston, Ray Donovan's Liev Schreiber, Masters of Sex's Michael Sheen, House of Spades' Kevin Spacey and The Black List's James Spader are all nominated.
Meanwhile, The Good Wife's Julianna Margulies, Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany, Orange is the New Black's Taylor Schilling, Scandal's Kerry Washington and House of Cards' Robin Wright all landed Best Actress in a TV series, Drama nods.
For the Best Television Series - Drama category Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, The Good Wife, House of Cards and Masters of Sex will go up against each other.
Michael Douglas' and Matt Damon's Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra scored three nominations including Best TV Movie Or Mini-series and Best Actor in a TV Movie or Mini-Series for Damon and Douglas.
The 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards, co-hosted by Tina - London, United Kingdom - Friday 18th October 2013

Steve McQueen brutal slavery drama looks set to clean up during awards season.

We're into the realms of awards season now and Steve McQueen's 12 Years A Slave seems set to continue its miraculous habit of picking up awards, like a giant snowball gathering more prizes as it rolls along.

Ahead of the 2014 Independent Spirit Awards, widely considered to be a landmark ceremony of the season, the Chiwetel Ejiofor-starring film about 19th century slavery in America has been nominated in seven categories, including best feature, director, screenplay, male lead for Chiwetel Ejiofor, supporting lead for Lupita Nyong'o, supporting male for Michael Fassbender and cinematography.

Get ready to be underwhelmed: when we say 12 Years A Slave’s box office was solid on opening, we’re talking about a limited release. $960,000 from 19 theaters over the weekend is pretty good going, though.

Steve McQueen’s powerful slave drama, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Sarah Paulson, Alfre Woodward, and Brad Pitt – an all-star ensemble indeed – has been a hit with the critics, and its relative success on a limited release suggests the film has the fiscal legs to see it through a competitive season.

The overwhelming response to the Steve McQueen picture is that it is a deep, sometime difficult watch that prompts the best from the director and actors

12 Years A Slave is the film version of Solomon Northup's account of his kidnap and subsequent sale into slavery until his rescue twelve years later. The real-life account of the tragic fate of Northup and the appalling conditions he and millions of other slaves were forced to endure has been turned into a feature-length epic by British director Steve McQueen, who leads a largely British cast in the film that is being heralded by critics as a must-see film.

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon, McQueen adapted the memoirs of the main character along with John Ridley to chronicle Solomon's harrowing twelve years, where he went from being a freeman living in New York, to a plantation slave in New Orleans between 1841 and 1853. Ejiofor has been roundly praised for his exceptonal acting talents, as have the rest of the cast, who include Brad Pitt, Paul Giamatti, Paul Dano, Benedict Cumberbatch, Alfre Woodard and Michael Fassbender, whose role as the heartless slave trader Edwin Epps has also been widely applauded for his unflinching brutality and realism.

The cast of '12 Years A Slave' arrive at the movie premiere at the New York Film Festival including lead actor Chiwetel Ejiofor and director Steve McQueen. Ejiofor plays real life wronged man Solomon Northup in this story about one man's illegal enslavement despite his American citizenship and achievements, based on the autobiography of the same name.

The period slavery epic moves into pole position for an Academy Award.

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave has secured a place as ‘Oscars favorite’ following its triumph at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. The Steve McQueen-directed epic – based on the memoir of Solomon Northrup – remains the odds on choice for Best Picture at 13/4.

By winning the BlackBerry People's Choice award, 12 Years a Slave follows in the footsteps of previous Oscar winners, The Kings Speech and Slumdog Millionaire. What was once a the faint hum of Oscars buzz is now a powerful thud as McQueen’s latest effort leaves Mandela and Osage County in its wake.

The highly anticipated Nelson Mandela biopic, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, will premiere in Canada at the Toronto Film Festival. The film – already collecting Oscar momentum – sees Idris Elba take the leading role, with Naomie Harris in a supporting role as Winnie Mandela.

Elba and Harris star in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

"As soon as we saw it, we knew that it would set the right tone for opening night. It's a movie about what we thought is one of the most important issues of the day - information and who controls it," said Cameron Bailey, the festival's artistic director.

The film festival will also feature 12 Years a Slave, August: Osage County and more!

The Fifth Estate, the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring biopic of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, will be the opening film at at this years annual Toronto International Film Festival. The film festival will also feature advanced screenings of fellow Oscar teasers 12 Years A Slave and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, with Daniel Schecter's Life of Crime - which stars John Hawkes, Mos Def and Jennifer Aniston - closing the first night. The festival starts on September 5.

The Fifth Estate follows the end of the turbulent relationship between Assange and Daniel Domscheit-Berg at the height of WikiLeaks' infamy and mass exposure. Based on the books Inside WikiLeaks: My Time with Julian Assange at the World's Most Dangerous Website by Domscheit-Berg himself and WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy by Luke Harding and David Leigh, the movie adaptation has been without Assange's consent. The film was directed by the Oscar winning Bill Condon (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Dreamgirls) and adapted for the screen by Josh Singer (The West Wing, Fringe). The film is due to arrive in time for Oscar season in January 2014.

Solomon Northup was a regular New York resident who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. He was rescued 12 years later. 172 years on, and Chiwetel Ejiofor is an early Oscar contender for his turn as Northup in Steve McQueen’s 12 Days a Slave, which has a new trailer.

Chiwetel Ejiofor looks excellent as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave

Solomon Northup was a well-educated man from a successful family living in upstate New York with his wife and three children. He was categorised as a free black man and made money through various jobs including as an entertainer playing the violin. In 1841, he was tricked into going to Washington DC with two white men for work where he was instead kidnapped and sold to slavery despite there being laws to protect free African-Americans. He spent twelve years on a plantation in Louisiana serving the brutal and abusive owner Edwin Epps. Determined to live his life again as a free man, he befriended a Canadian carpenter working for Epps by the name of Samuel Bass, whose high-morals turned Solomon's life around forever.

This poignant historical biopic is based on the 1853 autobiography 'Twelve Years a Slave' by the real Solomon Northup. It has been adapted to screen by writer John Ridley ('U Turn', 'Red Tails') and the BAFTA nominated director Steve McQueen ('Hunger', 'Shame'). With themes of freedom, racial inequality and the cruelty of mankind, '12 Years A Slave' could be one of the more heart-wrenching movies to kick of the year on its UK cinematic release on January 24th 2014.

Films - or should we say writers and directors - that dare to tackle the issue of slavery come rarely, and when they due, they face an increased level of scrutiny due to the sensitive subject matter. They are necessary though; teaching the world of the horrors it has faced will ensure they never happen again, or so they say.

Django Unchained came and went, as Quentin Tarantino’s ability to satirize and trivialize some of history’s most controversial times slowly turns into a trilogy of movies. Mixed reviews and a cavalier use of the ‘N’ word meant people saw it as less of a history lesson and more of a taboo comedy, which is exactly what it was.

'12 Years a Slave' appears to be far more hard-hitting than many expected.

The trailer for Steve McQueen's hugely anticipated historical drama 12 Years A Slave, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor as a free man tricked into slavery in the 1840s, has rolled out online.

Also featuring Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender and Paul Giamatti, the movie appears to be a far more hard-hitting than many were expecting with some writers suggesting it tells the real story of the pre-civil war period in the United States of America, as opposed to, say, Quentin Taratino's Django Unchained.

Ejiofor plays a free black New Yorker who is sold into slavery after being lured to Washington DC with the promise of a well-paid job playing fiddle in a circus.

Benedict Cumberbatch has only gone and done what millions of Britons have longed to do for years. Nope, it's not star in a Star Trek reboot. It's not play Sherlock Holmes. It is, of course, give Jeremy Clarkson a great big punch to the gut.

Ok, so he didn't quite do that, though the British actor gave the presenter a stage combat demonstration during an interview for Top Gear, which aired on BBC Two last night (July 14, 2013).

When Cumberbatch joked how he couldn't do Clarkson's job - after smashing up his Mini - the presenter responding by admitting he could never be an actor, "I've no idea how to fly a spaceship or punch anyone. Or act."

The Turner Prize has traditionally been surrounded by controversy and, in many respects, disdain. For British artists, to win the Turner Prize may be the achievement of a lifetime, but for many of the viewing public the lingering thought is often "...eh?" Nevertheless, the Turner Prize is always the highlight of the arts calender and never fails to be entertaining at the very least.

Turner Prize winners have often gone on to great success, most notably (or notoriously) Damien Hirst, whose "Mother and Child, Divided" won in 1995, having already been nominated in 1992 with "The Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living." Steve McQueen also won the prize in 1999 with a short film about Buster Keaton. His name may ring a bell, but not for art. McQueen has gone on to be an award winning film director, with two award winning movies in his catalogue so far; 2008's "Hunger" and this year's smash "Shame". McQueen will be again be delving into some very difficult territory with the release of "Twelve Years a Slave" in 2013.

This year's Turner nominations Spartacus Chetwynd, Luke Fowler, Paul Noble and Elizabeth Price, and includes film, performance, installations, detailed line drawings and painting across the artists' exhibitions. Although Paul Noble has been pegged as an 'early favourite' by the Independent, Chedwynd is by far the most exciting of the artists. Her performance work is certainly original and her nominated piece exhibits puppet portrayals of Jesus and Barabbas.

This unflinching, thoughtful drama about sex addiction is made with such skill and honesty that it continually takes us aback. It also features two bold, raw performances that are among the best of this or any other year.

Brandon (Fassbender) is a successful New Yorker who's happier to see a series of random women than to settle down into a relationship. Although he doesn't stop there, indulging also in porn and prostitutes. So when his wayward sister Sissy (Mulligan) shows up needing a place to stay, it kind of puts a crimp in his style. Especially when she hooks up with his married boss (Dale). Soon he begins to doubt himself, feeling a surge of guilt and shame over his private demons. But getting rid of his urges is another matter.

By day, Brandon is a successful business man in New York City. By night, he feeds his compulsive sex addiction by engaging in one night stands, prostitutes and cyber sex, as well as habitual masturbation. No one knows of his double as he keeps it well under control.

There's a lot to like about Papillon. Compared to the witless blockbusters of today, with their explosions and CGI trickery, Papillon is the type of outsized escapist adventure tale that Hollywood once had down pat. It's well acted, gorgeously shot, and generally exciting -- all of which makes its mediocrity an even greater disappointment.

The trouble lies in its placement in the evolution of the Hollywood action film. Papillon is a transitional species. At the same time it soars on old-fashioned virtue, it also suffers from modern vice. Its 150-minute running time, false endings, and mind-numbing repetitions make it an early predecessor of the indulgent blockbuster of today.

Coming on the heels of John Sturges' The Magnificent Seven three years earlier, 1963's The Great Escape shows how quickly the ambitious epic can turn into a rote, readymade piece of filmmaking - a Hollywood masterpiece by design. There's a formal, somewhat stilted feel to its three-hour story about a group of imprisoned World War II officers and their struggle to break out of a Nazi P.O.W. camp, and anybody who thinks that Michael Bay is a bullying thug of a filmmaker who likes pushing people's emotions around can come here to see where he got it from. But for all its flaws, Escape has some of the most memorable moments in any war film, and some excellent performances from its ensemble cast.

Based on a true story, The Great Escape is set during the tail end of World War II, when a variety of officers from different countries were sent to Stalag Luft III, a prison camp designed to handle the most diligent escape attempts. Both fearless and duty-bound, the men spend no time with long prologues or chit-chat about what to do; they, along with the movie, immediately set to work, using the skills they know best. There's Anthony Hendley, the "scrounger" skilled at digging up needed provisions; James Garner, at his best when he's being charmingly unctuous to his Nazi captors; Charles Bronson, as the "tunnel king" Danny Velinski, offering a nice combination of two-fisted bravado and sensitive-guy neurosis; and Donald Pleasance, the British document forger, who brings a steely, proud stoicism to his role that sets the movie's emotional feel. His is the most convincing performance, which makes sense given that really did time in a German P.O.W. camp.